Lorne Rombough: Long Island Cougars 1973-74

1973-74 was a great year for Lorne Rombough. He was a fifty goal scorer in his only year in the North American Hockey League and played his only three games of major league hockey with the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association.

Lorne Rombough – NAHL

In 1973-74, Lorne played 68 regular season games for the Long Island Cougars in the inaugural season of the NAHL. Rombough scored 50 goals and assisted on 42 for 92 points on the John Brophy coached team. He led the Cougars in goals and points. Lorne’s 50 goals placed him fourth in the league and he was the last of four players to surpass the 50 goal plateau that season. His 92 points placed him tenth in the league.

As for the Cougars, the team placed third in the seven team league, one point below .500. Yes, just two of seven teams had winning records in the 1973-74 NAHL. This imbalance certainly showed in the playoffs. Long Island reached the Lockhart Cup finals before being swept by the Syracuse Blazers in four games. The Blazers outscored the Cougars 27-5 in the series.

Lorne Rombough – Pro Hockey

 

In 1967-68, Lorne was team captain with the State University of Buffalo in U.S. College Hockey. The team went undefeated during the 15 game regular season but fell to Oswego State in the playoffs, their only loss of the season.

Rombough played pro hockey from 1969-70 to 1979-80 in a handful of leagues that includes the IHL, EHL (2 versions), AHL, NAHL, WHA, SHL, PHL and NEHL. His actual first pro game came in 1968-69 when he appeared in a single game with the Fort Wayne Komets of the IHL. Lorne scored a goal in that first taste of pro hockey.

Lorne played for the predecessor of the Cougars, the Long Island Ducks of the EHL. In 1971-72, he placed ninth in the Eastern Hockey League with 42 goals in 75 regular season games. He also assisted on 35 for a total of 77 points that year.

As mentioned, he got his lone shot at major league hockey in 1973-74. Rombough played three games with the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association. His short stay was pretty impressive with two goals and an assist for the WHA club.

Perhaps, his best year in pro hockey came in 1974-75 with the Hampton Gulls of the SHL. Lorne scored 56 goals and assisted on 43 for 99 points over 72 regular season games. Rombough placed second in the league for goal, three behind league leader Andre Deschamps of the Charlotte Checkers. The two were the only players that season to surpass the 50 goal mark. Lorne’s 99 points placed him fourth in the SHL.

Long Island Cougars

Long Island Cougars

The Long Island Cougars played in the North American Hockey League for the first two seasons of the league’s existence, 1973-74 and 1974-75. The team was affiliated with the Chicago Cougars of the World Hockey Association.

The Long Island hockey franchise originated as the Long Island Ducks in the Eastern Hockey League in 1959-60. With the demise of the EHL after 1972-73, the Ducks carried on in the NAHL. The team played out of the Long Island Arena in Commack, New York. The arena sat 4,000 and was only home the Ducks / Cougars franchise ever knew. Long Island Arena was closed in 1996.

1973-74

The Cougars were coached in their first year by EHL legend and future NHL coach John Brophy. Long Island placed third in the seven team NAHL during the regular season with 73 points over 74 games. The Cougars finished 39 points behind the first place Syracuse Blazers.

In the Lockhart Cup playoffs, Long Island went 4-3 in the opening round, which was played in a round robin format. This set up a semi-final matchup with the Cape Cod Cubs. The Cougars beat the Cubs four games to two to earn a berth in the final series against Syracuse. The Blazers easily handled Brophy’s troops in a four game sweep. Syracuse outscored Long Island 27-5 in the series.

During the regular season, the Cougars were led offensively by Lorne Rombough. Lorne played 68 games, scoring 50 goals and assisting on 42 for 92 points. He was one of just four players with 50 or more goals in the NAHL that season. His 92 points placed him tenth in the league’s scoring race.

1974-75

The Cougars weakened in their second year in the NAHL. Long Island finished seventh in the eight team league with 63 points in 74 games. John Brophy was gone as head coach and in his place was Ron Racette. Racette was an outstanding junior coach in the QMJHL during the 1970’s, taking both the Cornwall Royals and Quebec Remparts to the President’s Cup finals.

Despite their low ranking going into the post-season, Long Island came up big in the quarter-finals with a three to one upset of the Philadelphia Firebirds. In the semi-finals, the Cougars came close to another upset when their series with the Binghamton Dusters went the full seven games. Binghamton came out on top, winning four games. However, the Dusters outscored Long Island by a close margin, 24-22. Two of the games needed overtime to decide a winner.

Offensively, the Cougars were led by Dave Walter. Playing in just 62 games, Walter scored 38 goals and assisted on 42 for 80 points. NAHL superstar Joe Hardy played four games with the club while spending most of his season in the WHA with the Chicago Cougars, Indianapolis Racers and San Diego Mariners. The following year, with the Beauce Jaros, Hardy would set NAHL records with 148 assists and 208 points. He became the first professional hockey player to surpass 200 points in a season.